Saturday, June 18, 2016

No one can wipe away Rubio's record of kowtowing to the NRA and voting against banning military-grade assault weapons

The full weight and power of the establishment-- both the Republican establishment which has identified him as one of the most potent threats to their reactionary agenda and the no less venal Democratic establishment which cannot abide his independence, his political courage and the incorruptibility that threatens their whole way of life-- have come down against Alan Grayson's bid for Rubio's Florida Senate seat. The Republicans have begged Rubio to seek reelection to keep Grayson out and the Democrats have recruited a "former" Republican-- rich, spoiled, highly corrupt non-entity Patrick Murphy, a political sieve, as a primary opponent.This week President Obama visited Grayson's town, Orlando, to make a statement about the mass shooting at Pulse. He brought Rubio with him and the White House made it clear Grayson was not welcome... in his own town. A source who we have granted anonymity inside Joe Biden's inner circle has made it clear to us that Patrick Murphy's corrupt parents-- who have spent immense sums of money on their pathetic son's career-- are making sizable contributions to the Obama presidential library. Connect the dots yourself.Yesterday, Grayson wrote to his supporters that "Marco Rubio flew down from Washington, DC to Orlando with the President... According to him, he wants to express concern about the massacre of LGBTs at the Pulse nightclub on Sunday morning. He also says that he is now reconsidering his prior decision not to run for re-election, against me, because of the tragedy. Which makes me wonder: Has he put aside his perpetual hostility toward the LGBT community, and has he moved beyond his callousness regarding the plague of gun violence in our nation?"Although, long ago, a young and desperate Marco Rubio, tried his hand as a gay prostitute in Miami, his virulent reaction against the LGBT community has been pronounced since those heady days in Coconut Grove. Grayson:

Color me skeptical. Senator Rubio has dedicated much of his political career to dehumanizing our LGBT community, and to making it easier for others to acquire weapons that can kill a lot of people very quickly. Here are just a few examples of this:His office released this statement in 2012: “Senator Rubio believes that the union of one man and one woman is the ideal setting to raise a strong family, and why our laws should recognize the institution of marriage as a union of one man and one woman.”He argued as the Florida State House Speaker in 2006 that same-sex couples shouldn’t be able to serve as foster parents to Florida children. He said that such children “shouldn’t be forced to be part of a social experiment.”When Rubio was asked in 2013 whether he supported ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), he responded: “I’m not for any special protections based on orientation.” The truth is that he’s not in favor of any protection at all. Many Floridians can still be fired for sexual orientation. In fact-- and this is terrible-- some of the victims of the tragedy at Pulse could be fired simply because their bosses read in the newspaper that they were at a gay nightclub.And...As far as I can tell, Marco Rubio has voted against every single gun safety bill brought to a vote in the Senate. After the Sandy Hook massacre took the lives of 20 elementary school children, he even voted against a renewed assault weapons ban, and a measure to expand background checks.

Yes, I certainly hope to see a different Marco Rubio-- the more different, the better. But I strongly suspect that the leopard has not changed his spots. Somehow, I doubt that a Senator who refused reform after the massacre of six-year-olds will suddenly believe in reform after the massacre of innocent LGBT people, a community that he has sought to relegate to second-class citizenship.We cannot allow Marco Rubio to extend his anti-LGBT, pro-assault-weapon time in the Senate... I don’t know what Marco Rubio has in his heart today. But I do know what’s in his record. And that’s why we must defeat him.